of water in which are two slices of lemon, and stir into it a
dessertspoonful of cornstarch; cook four to five minutes, or until it
thickens. Squeeze the juice from one large lemon, and mix it with two
thirds of a cup of sugar. Add this to the cornstarch mixture, and allow
the whole to boil up once, stirring constantly; then take from the fire.
Leave in the double boiler, surrounded by the hot water, for ten
minutes. Cool to blood heat before serving.
MOCK CREAM.--Heat a pint of fresh, unskimmed milk in a double
boiler. When the milk is boiling, stir in two tablespoonfuls of sugar,
and two even tablespoonfuls of cornstarch which has first been rubbed
smooth in a very little cold milk. Bring just to a boil, stirring
constantly; then pour the hot mixture, a little at a time, beating
thoroughly all the while, over the well-beaten white of one egg. Put
again into the double boiler, return to the fire, and stir till it
thickens to the consistency of cream.
MOLASSES SAUCE.--To one half cup of molasses, add one half cup of
water, and heat to boiling. Thicken with a teaspoonful of flour rubbed
to a cream with a little cold water. Serve hot.
ORANGE SAUCE.--Squeeze a cupful of juice from well-flavored, sour
oranges. Heat a pint of water, and when boiling, thicken with a
tablespoonful of cornstarch. Add the orange juice, strain, and sweeten
to taste with sugar that has been flavored by rubbing over the yellow
rind of an orange until mixed with the oil in the rind. If a richer
sauce is desired, the yolk of an egg may be added lastly, and the sauce
allowed to cook until thickened.
PEACH SAUCE.--Strain the juice from a well-kept can of peaches.
Dilute with one half as much water, heat to boiling, and thicken with
cornstarch, a scant tablespoonful to the pint of liquid.
PLAIN PUDDING SAUCE.--Thicken one and one half cups of water with
one tablespoonful of cornstarch; boil a few minutes, then stir in two
thirds of a cup of sugar, and one half cup of sweet cream. Take off the
stove, and flavor with a little rose, vanilla, or lemon.
RED SAUCE.--Pare and slice a large red beet, and simmer gently in
three cups of water for twenty minutes, or until the water is rose
colored, then add two cups of sugar, the thin yellow rind and juice of
one lemon, and boil until the whole is thick syrup. Strain, add a
teaspoonful of rose water or vanilla, and serve.
ROSE CREAM.--Remove the thick cream from the top of a pan of cold
milk, taking care not to take up any of the milk. Add sugar to sweeten
and a teaspoonful or two of rose water. Beat with an egg beater until
the whole mass is thick. Good thick cream, beaten in this manner, makes
nearly double its original quantity.
SAGO SAUCE.--Wash one tablespoonful of sago in two or three waters,
then put it into a saucepan with three fourths of a cup of hot water,
and some bits of lemon peel. Simmer gently for ten minutes, take out the
lemon peel, add half a cup of quince or apricot juice; and if the
latter, the strained juice of half a lemon, and sugar to taste. Beat
together thoroughly.
WHIPPED CREAM SAUCE.--Beat together with an egg beater until of a
stiff froth one cup of sweet cream which has been cooled to a
temperature of 64° or less, one teaspoonful of vanilla or a little
grated lemon rind, and one half cup of powdered white sugar, and the
whites of one or two eggs. The sauce may be variously flavored with a
little fruit jelly beaten with the egg, before adding to the cream.
TABLE TOPICS.
Whether or not life is worth living, all depends upon the
liver.--_Sel._
Diet cures mair than doctors.--_Scotch Proverb._
According to the ancient Hindu Scriptures, the proper amount of food
is half of what can be conveniently eaten.
Every hour you steal from digestion will be reclaimed by
indigestion.--_Oswald._
"Very few nations in the world," says a sagacious historian,
"produce better soldiers than the Russians. They will endure the
greatest fatigues and sufferings with patience and calmness. And it
is well know that the Russian soldiers are from childhood nourished
by simple and coarse vegetable food. The Russian Grenadiers are the
finest body of men I ever saw,--not a man is under six feet high.
Their allowance consists of eight pounds of black bread, and four
pounds of oil per man for eight days."
Colonel Fitzgibbon was, many years ago, colonial agent at London for
the Canadian Government, and wholly dependent upon remittances from
Canada for his support. On one occasion these remittances failed to
arrive, and it being before the day of cables, he was obliged to
write to his friends to ascertain the reason of the delay. Meanwhile
he had just one sovereign to live upon. He found he could live upon
a sixpence a day,--four pennyworth of bread, one pennyworth of milk,
and one pennyworth of sugar. When his remittances arrived a month
afterward, he had five shillings remaining of his sovereign, and he
liked his frugal diet so well that he kept it up for several years.
An hour of exercise to every pound of food.--_Oswald._
Some eat to live, they loudly cry;
But from the pace they swallow pie
And other food promiscuously,
One would infer they eat to die.
--_Sel._
BEVERAGES
The use of beverages in quantities with food at mealtime is prejudicial
to digestion, because they delay the action of the gastric juice upon
solid foods. The practice of washing down food by copious draughts of
water, tea, or coffee is detrimental, not only because it introduces
large quantities of fluid into the stomach, which must be absorbed
before digestion can begin, but also because it offers temptation to
careless and imperfect mastication, while tea and coffee also serve as a
vehicle for an excessive use of sugar, thus becoming a potent cause of
indigestion and dyspepsia. It is best to drink but sparingly, if at all,
at mealtimes. Consideration should also be given to the nature of the
beverage, since many in common use are far from wholesome. Very cold
fluids, like iced water, iced tea, and iced milk, are harmful, because
they cool the contents of the stomach to a degree at which digestion is
checked. If drunk at all, they should be taken only in small sips and
retained in the mouth until partly warmed.
Tea is often spoken of as the "cup that cheers but not inebriates."
"The cup that may cheer yet does injury" would be nearer the truth, for
there is every evidence to prove that this common beverage is
exceedingly harmful, and that the evils of its excessive use are second
only to those of tobacco and alcohol. Tea contains two harmful
substances, theine and tannin,--from three to six per cent of the former
and more than one fourth its weight of the latter. Theine is a poison
belonging to the same class of poisonous alkaloids, and is closely
allied to cocaine. It is a much more powerful poison than alcohol,
producing death in less than one hundredth part the deadly dose of
alcohol; and when taken in any but the smallest doses, it produces all
the symptoms of intoxication. Tannin is an astringent exercising a
powerful effect in delaying salivary and stomach digestion, thus
becoming one of the most common causes of digestive disorders. It is
also a matter of frequent observation that sleeplessness, palpitation of
the heart, and various disorders of the nervous system frequently follow
the prolonged use of tea. Both theine and tannin are more abundant in
green than in black tea.
The dependence of the habitual tea-drinker upon the beverage, and the
sense of loss experienced when deprived of it, are among the strongest
proofs of its evil effects, and should be warnings against its use. No
such physical discomfort is experienced when deprived of any article of
ordinary food. The use of tea makes one feel bright and fresh when
really exhausted; but, like all other stimulants, it is by exciting
vital action above the normal without supplying extra force to support
the extra expenditure. The fact that a person feels tired is evidence
that the system demands rest, that his body is worn and needs repair;
but the relief experienced after a cup of tea is not recuperation.
Instead, it indicates that his nerves are paralyzed so that they are
insensible to fatigue.
Some people suppose the manner of preparing tea has much to do with its
deleterious effects, and that by infusion for two or three minutes only,
the evils resulting from the tannin will be greatly lessened. This,
however, is a delusion, if the same amount of tea be used proportionate
to the water; for tannin in its free state, the condition in which it is
found in tea is one of the most readily soluble of substances; and tea
infused for two minutes is likely to hold nearly as much tannin in
solution as that infused for a longer period.
Tea is not a food, and it can in no wise take the place of food, as so
many people attempt to make it, without detriment to health in every
respect.
Coffee, cocoa, and chocolate rank in the same category with tea, as
beverages which are more or less harmful. Coffee contains caffein, a
principle identical with theine and a modified form of tannin, though in
less quantity than tea. Cocoa and chocolate contain substances similar
to theine and equally harmful, though usually present in much less
proportion than in tea.
Custom has made the use of these beverages so common that most people
seldom stop to inquire into their nature. Doubtless the question arises
in many minds; If these beverages contain such poisons, why do they not
more commonly produce fatal results?--Because a tolerance of the poison
is established in the system by use, as in the case of tobacco and other
narcotics and stimulants; but that the poisons surely though insidiously
are doing their work is attested by the prevalence of numerous disorders
of the digestive and nervous systems, directly attributable to the use
of these beverages.
Both tea and coffee are largely adulterated with other harmful
substances, thus adding another reason why their use should be
discarded. It is stated on good authority that it is almost impossible
to obtain unadulterated ground coffee.
In view of all these facts, it certainly seems wisest if a beverage is
considered essential, to make use of one less harmful. Hot milk, hot
water, hot lemonade, caramel coffee, or some of the various grain
coffees, recipes for which are give in the following pages, are all
excellent substitutes for tea and coffee, if a hot drink is desired.
_RECIPES_
BEET COFFEE.--Wash best beets thoroughly, but do not scrape; slice,
and brown in a moderate oven, taking care not to burn. When brown, break
in small pieces and steep the same as ordinary coffee.
CARAMEL COFFEE.--Take three quarts best bran, one quart corn meal,
three tablespoonfuls of molasses; mix and brown in the oven like
ordinary coffee. For every cup of coffee required, use one heaping
tablespoonful of the caramel. Pour boiling water over it, and steep, not
boil, for fifteen or twenty minutes.
CARAMEL COFFEE NO. 2.--Take one cup each of white flour, corn meal,
unsifted Graham flour, and molasses. Mix well, and form into cakes half
an inch thick and a little larger around than a silver dollar. If the
molasses is not thin enough to take up all the dry material, one fourth
or one half a cup of cold water may be added for that purpose. Bake the
cakes in the oven until very dark brown, allowing them to become
slightly scorched. When desired for use, take one cake for each cup of
coffee required, pour sufficient water over them, and steep, not boil,
twenty minutes.
CARAMEL COFFEE NO. 3.--To three and one half quarts of bran and one
and one half quarts of corn meal, take one pint of New Orleans molasses
and one half pint of boiling water. Put the water and molasses together
and pour them over the bran and corn meal which have been previously
mixed. Rub all well together, and brown slowly in the oven, stirring
often, until a rich dark brown. Use one heaping tablespoonful of coffee
to each small cup of boiling water, let it just boil up, then steep on
the back of the stove for five or ten minutes.
CARAMEL COFFEE NO. 4.--Beat together four eggs and one pint of
molasses, and mix thoroughly with four quarts of good wheat bran. Brown
in the oven, stirring frequently. Prepare for use the same as the
preceding.
MRS. T'S CARAMEL COFFEE.--Make a rather thick batter of Graham
grits or Graham meal and milk, spread it in shallow pans and bake in a
moderate oven until evenly done throughout. Cut the cake thus prepared
into thin strips, which break into small uniform pieces and spread on
perforated tins or sheets and brown in the oven. Each piece should be
very darkly and evenly browned, but not burned. For each cup of coffee
required, steep a small handful in boiling water for ten or fifteen
minutes, strain and serve.
PARCHED GRAIN COFFEE.--Brown in the oven some perfectly sound
wheat, sweet corn, barley, or rice, as you would the coffee berry. If
desired, a mixture of grains may be used. Pound or grind fine. Mix the
white of an egg with three tablespoonfuls of the ground grain, and pour
over it a quart of boiling water. Allow it to come just to the boiling
point, steep slowly for twelve or fifteen minutes, and serve.
WHEAT, OATS AND BARLEY COFFEE.--Mix together equal quantities of
these grains, brown in the oven like ordinary coffee, and grind. To one
quart of boiling water take three tablespoonfuls of the prepared coffee
mixed with the white of an egg, and steep in boiling water ten or
fifteen minutes.
_RECIPES FOR COLD BEVERAGES._
BLACKBERRY BEVERAGE.--Crush a quart of fresh blackberries, and pour
over them a quart of cold water; add a slice of lemon and a teaspoonful
of orange water, and let it stand three or four hours. Strain through a
jelly bag. Sweeten to taste with a syrup prepared by dissolving white
sugar in hot water, allowing it to become cold before using. Serve at
once with bits of broken ice in the glasses, or place the pitcher on ice
until ready to serve.
FRUIT BEVERAGE.--A great variety of pleasant, healthful drinks may
be made by taking equal quantities of water and the juice of currants,
strawberries, raspberries, cherries, or a mixture of two kinds, as
raspberries and currants, sweetening to taste, and putting into each
glass a small lump of ice. Directions for the preparation of fruit
juices will be found on page 209.
FRUIT BEVERAGE NO. 2.--Mash a pint of red raspberries, add one cup
of canned pineapple or half a fresh one chopped fine; pour over all
three pints of water. Stir frequently, and let the mixture stand for two
hours. Strain, add the juice of six lemons, and sugar or syrup to
sweeten.
ANOTHER.--Extract the juice from three lemons and as many sour
oranges, add a quart of cold water, sugar or syrup to sweeten, half a
teaspoonful of rose water, and a cup of pure grape juice; or the rose
water and grape juice may be omitted and two tablespoonfuls of
strawberry, raspberry, or cherry juice used instead, and the whole
poured over half a dozen slices of pineapple, and allowed to stand until
well flavored before using.
FRUIT CORDIAL.--Crush a pint of blackberries, raspberries, grapes,
currants, or cherries, adding the juice of two sour oranges, and a
sliced lemon; pour over all a quart of cold water. Stir the mixture
frequently and let it stand for two hours, then strain and add a syrup
made by dissolving white sugar in boiling water, sufficient to sweeten.
Cool on ice and serve.
GRAPE BEVERAGE.--Crush two pounds of perfectly ripened purple
grapes and strain the juice through a jelly bag. Add to the juice three
tablespoonfuls of granulated sugar or syrup, and dilute with cold water
to suit the taste.
LEMONADE.--Use three large or four medium-sized lemons for each
quart of water, and from six to eight tablespoonfuls of sugar. Rub or
squeeze the lemons till soft. Cut a slice or two from each, and extract
the juice with a lemon drill; strain the juice through a fine wire
strainer to remove the seeds and bits of pulp, and pour it over the
sugar. Add the slices of lemon, and pour over all a very little boiling
water to thoroughly dissolve the sugar; let it stand ten or fifteen
minutes, then add the necessary quantity of cold water, and serve. Or
rub the sugar over the outside of the lemons to flavor it, and make it
into a syrup by adding sufficient boiling water to dissolve it. Extract
and strain the lemon juice, add the prepared syrup and the requisite
quantity of cold water, and serve.
MIXED LEMONADE.--A very pleasant, cooling summer drink is made from
the juice of six oranges and six lemons, with sugar to taste; add to
this some pounded ice and the juice of a small can of pineapple, and
lastly pour over the whole two quarts of water.
OATMEAL DRINK.--Boil one fourth of a pound of oatmeal in three
quarts of water for half an hour, then add one and one half
tablespoonfuls of sugar, strain and cool. It may be flavored with a
little lemon or raspberry syrup if desired; or the sugar may be omitted
and a quart of milk added. Cool on ice and serve.
ORANGEADE.--Pare very thin from one orange a few bits of the yellow
rind. Slice three well-peeled sour oranges, taking care to remove all
the white portion and all seeds. Add the yellow rind and a tablespoonful
of sugar; pour over all a quart of boiling water. Cover the dish, and
let it remain until the drink is cold. Or, if preferred, the juice of
the oranges may be extracted with a lemon drill and strained as for
lemonade.
PINEAPPLE BEVERAGE.--Pare and chop quite fine one fresh pineapple;
add a slice or two of lemon, and cover with three pints of boiling
water. Let it stand for two hours or more, stirring frequently; then
strain and add the juice of five lemons, and sugar or syrup to sweeten.
PINEAPPLE LEMONADE.--Lemonade made in the usual manner and flavored
with a few spoonfuls of canned pineapple juice, is excellent for
variety.
PINK LEMONADE.--Add to a pint of lemonade prepared in the usual
manner half a cup of fresh or canned strawberry, red raspberry, currant,
or cranberry juice. It gives a pretty color besides adding a pleasing
flavor.
SHERBET.--Mash a quart of red raspberries, currants, or
strawberries, add the juice of a lemon, and pour over all three pints of
cold water. Stir frequently, and let it stand for two or three hours.
Strain through a jelly bag, sweeten to taste, and serve.
TISANE.--This is a favorite French beverage, and is prepared by
chopping fine a cupful of dried fruits, such as prunes, figs, or
prunelles, and steeping for an hour in a quart of water, afterward
straining, sweetening to taste, and cooling on ice before using.
TABLE TOPICS.
The nervousness and peevishness of our times are chiefly
attributable to tea and coffee. The digestive organs of confirmed
coffee drinkers are in a state of chronic derangement which reacts
on the brain, producing fretful and lachrymose moods. The snappish,
petulant humor of the Chinese can certainly be ascribed to their
immoderate fondness for tea.--_Dr. Bock._
Dr. Ferguson, an eminent physician who has carefully investigated
the influence of tea and coffee upon the health and development of
children, says he found that children who were allowed these
beverages gained but four pounds a year between the ages of thirteen
and sixteen, while those who had been allowed milk instead, gained
fifteen pounds in weight during the same period.
Dr. Richardson, the eminent English physician and scientist, asserts
that the misery of the women of the poorer classes of the population
in England is more than doubled by the use of tea, which only
soothes or stimulates to intensify the after-coming depression and
languor.
A physician recommended a lady to abandon the use of tea and coffee.
"O, but I shall miss it so," said she.
"Very likely," replied her medical adviser, "but you are missing
health now, and will soon lose it altogether if you do not."
Dr. Stenhouse, of Liverpool, once made a careful analysis of a
sample package of black tea, which was found to contain "some pure
Congo tea leaves, also siftings of Pekoe and inferior kinds,
weighing together twenty-seven per cent of the whole. The remaining
seventy-three per cent was composed of the following substances;
Iron, plumbago, chalk, China-clay, sand, Prussian-blue, tumeric,
indigo, starch, gypsum, catechu, gum, the leaves of the camelia,
sarangna, _Chlorantes officinalis_, elm, oak, willow, poplar, elder,
beach, hawthorn, and sloe."
MILK CREAM BUTTER
MILK.
Chemically considered, the constituents of milk are nitrogenous matter
(consisting of casein and a small proportion of albumen), fat, sugar of
milk, mineral matter, and water, the last constituting from sixty-five
to ninety per cent of the whole.
The proportion of these elements varies greatly in the milk of different
animals of the same species and of the same animals at different times,
so that it is not possible to give an exact analysis.
The analysis of an average specimen of cow's milk, according to Letheby,
is:--
Nitrogenous matter.......................................4.1
Fat......................................................3.9
Sugar of milk............................................5.2
Mineral matter...........................................0.8
Water...................................................86.0
If a drop of milk be examined with a microscope, it will be seen as a
clear liquid, holding in suspension a large number of minute globules,
which give the milk its opacity or white color. These microscopic
globules are composed of fatty matter, each surrounded by an envelope of
casein, the principal nitrogenous element found in milk. They are
lighter than the surrounding liquid, and when the milk remains at rest,
they gradually rise to the top and form cream. Casein, unlike albumen,
is not coagulated by heat; hence when milk is cooked, it undergoes no
noticeable change, save the coagulation of the very small amount of
albumen it contains, which, as it solidifies, rises to the top, carrying
with it a small portion of the sugar and saline matter and some of the
fat globules, forming a skin-like scum upon the surface. Casein,
although not coagulable by heat, is coagulated by the introduction into
the milk of acids or extract of rennet. The curd of cheese is coagulated
casein. When milk is allowed to stand for some time exposed to warmth
and air, a spontaneous coagulation occurs, caused by fermentative
changes in the sugar of milk, by which it is converted into lactic acid
through the action of germs.
Milk is sometimes adulterated by water, the removal of more or less of
the cream, or the addition of some foreign substance to increase its
density.
The quality of milk is more or less influenced by the food upon which
the animal is fed. Watery milk may be produced by feeding a cow upon
sloppy food.
The milk of diseased animals should never be used for food. There is no
way by which such milk can invariably be detected, but Prof. Vaughan, of
Michigan University, notes the following kinds of milk to be avoided:
1. Milk which becomes sour and curdles within a few hours after it has
been drawn, and before any cream forms on its surface. This is known in
some sections as 'curdly' milk, and it comes from cows with certain
inflammatory affections of the udder, or digestive diseases, or those
which have been overdriven or worried.
2. "Bitter-sweet milk" has cream of a bitter taste, is covered with
'blisters,' and frequently with a fine mold. Butter and cheese made from
such milk cannot be eaten on account of the disagreeable taste.
3. 'Slimy milk' can be drawn out into fine, ropy fibers. It has an
unpleasant taste, which is most marked in the cream. The causes which
lead to the secretion of this milk are not known.
4. 'Blue milk' is characterized by the appearance on its surface,
eighteen or twenty-four hours after it is drawn, of small, indigo-blue
spots, which rapidly enlarge until the whole surface is covered with a
blue film. If the milk be allowed to stand a few days, the blue is
converted into a greenish or reddish color. This coloration of the milk
is due to the growth of microscopic organisms. The butter made from
'blue milk' is dirty-white, gelatinous, and bitter.